Old Habits Die Hard
by Phantomoftheoperalover
Summary: Sarah is faced with her most daunting task yet, graduating High School, first she must tie up some ends with an old flame. Will he forgive her or will he leave her standing in the cold. I have added new edits to the chapters please read from the beginning
1. At the Beginning

**_AN: To those of you who are reading my story I want you to know that I am editing everything wtih this story, my new beta has given me some great ideas to make this story even better. Even if you have read these chapters please re-read them because they have changed drastically since the first edit :)_**

**_Enjoy!_**

Sarah had a yearly ritual that changed as much as it stayed the same. She'd sit near the edge of a small stream, listening as the wind and chirping birds added its magic to the bubbling water, seeming to create a symphony of memories and emotions. Each year she'd sit there

and replay her final battle in the Goblin Kingdom - with the Goblin King.

Jareth, the water seemed to sigh, and she closed her eyes as the scene played out in different ways each year. Not because she didn't love Toby or want him safe, but because she had begun to realize she had fallen in love with the king. She found that she'd really never wanted to be the cause of his pain as she'd said the words that had won her brother, but lost her heart.

Sarah noticed the barn owl perched nearby each time, watching her, waiting. The bird never came close enough to become a threat, but she knew it heard every word she spoke. When she said those words, she'd glance over at the owl and wonder if it was him or if she only wished for a glimpse of him If it was Jareth, he was creating more tension between them, creating a personal Hell for both of them, being so near and never showing himself to her as he really was. She wondered if it was meant to punish her, or himself.

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The scene had hardly changed in the three years that she had been coming to the little park, the only difference was the loss of Merlin to a hit and run accident not long ago. She sometimes cried for her faithful companion who always seemed to know when to follow her to the park, and when to let her wander on her own. A small tear slipped down her cheek as she remembered that tonight would be one of her last nights in the park. She was graduating High School and leaving immediately to study at a famous acting school in England.

The clock started chiming and she knew that Karen would have a fit if she didn't make it home in time for her graduation party that night. At the sound of the clock chimes, she slowly made her way home. She wasn't even to the edge of the park when she heard someone whisper her name.

Glancing around quickly, she didn't see anyone. There were shadows swirling in the sunlight but Sarah paid no attention to it, she thought they were just the little forest animals playing in the treetops. Shrugging, she was startled when she heard it again. She paused, frowning at the sky. She scanned every area that she could think of that someone might be hiding, glancing at the shadows again maybe it was a trick of her eye but she thought it was becoming the shape of a person. She was started by this thought and by the time that she looked away there was nothing there, "Who could that have been?" she thought, then her mind pointed to the only man that she knew would stalk her from the shadows. Looking around she saw him up in the trees was a familiar owl, she knew it could only be one person. "Jareth I wish you would come to me right now!" then waited as he transformed into his human form.

He hadn't changed in the least bit since she had seen him last, the only difference was when she was running the Labyrinth he insisted on wearing the most obscene outfits that only someone like him could pull off. Today he was wearing a suit which looked as though it were Armani. He looked so dashing in the suit and regret started to overcome her. She felt such a pull towards him and she wanted him to forgive her. Quickly she turned as red as the rose in his lapel, as the blood rushed to her face.

Jareth inwardly laughed as he noticed the blush on her cheeks, "Yes Miss Williams?" He tried to be civil however, the anger that he felt towards her caused his words to be short and biting like a very sharp knife and Sarah flinched at the steel gaze of his eyes. The formality in which he spoke was so harsh that Sarah felt she should shrink out of terror and the longing which consumed her heart.

"I wanted to see you one last night before..." her voice faltered, "before I leave for school."

Jareth was taken aback, this little girl who had rejected him so many years ago wanted to make amends? He could not and would not forgive her so easily, this was something that she needed to work for and with that idea in mind he shrouded himself from her. To dig in his point a little deeper he chose words which he knew in the end would hurt her and hopefully lift the feeling of love from his heart. That blasted feeling which consumed him and made each of his decisions that much more difficult. "Oh stop with the melodramatics Sarah, I know exactly why you called me here; you can't live with the thought of knowing what you spoke. You want to take it all back don't you?" His placid voice disturbed her as they made their way into her heart. Jareth smirked, knowing he was getting to her, he could see her eyes fill with tears.

"I know that I've hurt you but I didn't know what you were offering back then," Sarah had to take a deep breath, "I was only fif..."

"I've heard this before," Jareth cut her off, "It's just an excuse! You knew from the story that I loved you! But I could tell that you never loved me, all you loved was the story. I gave you that little red book so many years ago and you didn't even notice what I was trying to say!" Jareth's voice finally cracked as he recalled every moment in complete agony. His face contorted as he tried not to cry, he had done enough of that lately, the tears just burned his eyes but didn't make it past that point. He never wanted to have her see him in this state. He turned his back on her, freezing her out with the viciousness of a winter blizzard.

Sarah was almost in tears, not just because of what he was saying, but also because of what he was not saying. The pain on his face was evident, she knew, but he wasn't going to crack at least not like she was. She just couldn't contain the emotion any longer and her eyes brimmed over with tears.

Goodbye Sarah," Jareth stay turned away from her so she would not be able to see him starting to cry keeping his voice flat he spoke the words that held more truth than any words that he had ever spoken to a single living soul, "I wish you the best now and always. I want you to know I am your slave whether I have power over you or not," with those parting words he started to walk away from her.

"Jareth wait!" Sarah pleaded, "I love you and I want you to love me please!" The words rushed from her mouth like a running faucet which had no stopper.

Jareth halted but didn't turn around, he didn't want to see her face because he knew if he did then he would take her then and there. Controlling the urge to turn around he forced himself to say the words he knew would hurt her the most, the same way that they had hurt him three years ago. He made these the final nail in her coffin, "You have no power over me Sarah, now go back to your costumes and your toys, forget about me!" With those last harsh words he transformed back to an owl and left her standing there crying.

Sarah felt the guilt wash over her rushing from her and keeping her planted in the spot. The sounds of the wilderness started to overpower her crying, with the sun setting more and more of the night creatures took the places of the daytime ones. WIth the crickets starting to chirp their music of the night Sarah could swear that she heard the voice again whispering her name. A chill crawled through her body like the little legs of spiders inching their way through her. "Sarrrrrraaaahhhhhh," the voice hissed. Sarah was beyond scared, she glanced around just to find the source of the sound and she saw the shadows swirling again. Breathing heavily Sarah tried to calm herself by saying it was only the shadows being shadows. Finally the clock striking the quarter of the hour brought her to her senses just long enough to send her flying through the darkening park back to the safety of her house.


	2. Broken Hearts Parade

As Jareth made his way back to the Labyrinth he knew that this was the best course of action for him to take. The war that was going on between the neighboring Demon Kingdom made it impossible for him to keep stealing moments away in the human world. By having Sarah believe he didn't want her anymore he was cutting ties to that world. Now he could focus on winning this war and saving his kingdom.

Entering his castle Jareth was bombarded by the goblins, each one was trying to tell him something but because they were all speaking in unison he could not decipher what they were trying to say.

"Will you all just be quiet!" his thundering voice echoed over the cold cobblestones. Pinching the bridge of his nose to relieve the small migraine that was starting to form, he took a deep breath to calm himself. "You! Spigbreath, What is going on here?" He pointed to the youngest goblin of the group.

"Yous haves a visitor," the small goblin squeaked, his voice sounding as if he had sucked on a helium balloon.

Jareth groaned, this was the last thing he wanted, or needed. All he wanted to do was sit in his study and start figuring out battle plans. "Fine I will be in the throne room show the visitor there," he commanded, finally conceding to the idea. He figured he could deal with this quickly and then he would be free to his own devices. He made his way to the throne room and was met with a shocking sight as he entered, the gentleman was already there and sitting on his throne. Rage built up inside of Jareth as he made his way to confront the intruder.

"Oy! Who do you think you are sitting in my throne!"

"My, my dear brother, such a greeting. I would have thought you would be happy to see me after all of these years." The voice hissed and slithered through the air as if it were a snake searching for its prey.

"Lucifer, I should have guessed it was you coming for a visit." Jareth tried his best not to growl, he hated his brother. The two had been fighting for years on who should really control the Goblin Kingdom. Lucifer was a firm believer that he had been given the short end of the stick because for hundreds of years the Goblin Kingdom had been given to the first born son, usually because the goblins were known for their wars and almost always the King would die in battle. Lucifer who had been training his whole life to be the Goblin King was shocked when his uncle died and he had gained control of the Demon Kingdom.

"My dear Jareth I've only come to wish you well in this war. You seem to be getting better troops now that you're getting humans." Lucifer knew how to get information and he was baiting Jareth. He wanted to find out his combat secrets because he knew that would be the only way he was going to be able to defeat the goblins. Demons were not skilled at fighting, they were more adept at terrorizing the enemy but when it came to actual fighting goblins had a leg up on the demons. They were not as easily frightened in the battle field so his troops skills were pretty much useless.

"I do not have to pull from the human world Lucifer, my soldiers just have better training than yours."

"Then tell me where do all of your soldiers come from," Lucifer now had a grip on Jareth's thoughts. That was one of the greatest kept secrets of the Demon held the ability to read minds which gave him the advantage when torturing war criminals. That was the only thing he was supposed to use it for. Because Jareth was only a baby when Lucifer became Demon King he had no idea what powers the position held. Lucifer was breaking all the rules and risked his own kingdom but he felt it was worth it if it meant that he could gain control of the Goblin Kingdom.

Jareth was definitely stuck in his own thoughts and most of them revolved around the human world, they were a jumbled mess but he was able to pull one coherent thought from the rest, 'Why did I just cut off my only lifeline to the human world by rejecting Sarah.'

'Interesting, I must look into this Sarah girl,' Lucifer thought. If she was affecting his brother this much she must have a large enough hold on him.

"My soldiers are my subjects and they are very well trained, which you wouldn't know how to do because all you do is train yours to terrorize the humans."

Jareth was trying to get some jabs in now because his brother was always better at the word fighting than he was and he was really good at fighting dirty.

"At least my minions get to go to the human world still," Lucifer smiled, he knew this would get to Jareth.

"What are you…" Jareth began but he had gotten so frazzled that he didn't know how to finish. "You know what, get out! Just leave and good luck with your failed war because my goblins are going to take you down!" With that Jareth magicked his throne away trying to startle his brother. Catching himself before the fall Lucifer stood and started to leave. Before he left the room he turned and smiled, "Give my love to Sarah," he didn't wait for a reaction, he just turned and left

the room.

Before leaving the castle he summoned over one of the goblins, "Take care of my brother won't you?"he placed a hand on its shoulder and focused his energy into the goblin. He didn't feel the need to stop spying on Jareth until he was good and ready to.

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For Sarah time seemed to drag on, almost as though she was moving through quicksand. Sitting through her party with a fake smile plastered on her face was the worst torture that she had ever put herself through. Everyone was so excited for her and wanted to know what she was going to do when she reached England. The cacophony was slowly eating at her nerves and her.

Finally, as if by some miracle, the crowd left and the silence that followed calmed Sarah to no end. As she was helping Karen clean up a bit she heard the same voice from the park again . This time it sounded closer than it had before and the blood drained from her face and fear gripped at her heart. Karen noticed the change in Sarah and thought that it was just jitters on graduating the next day, tapping Sarah on the shoulder she smiled, "Sweetie why don't you go to bed, you have a big day tomorrow and I would hate for you to look tired in your photos."

Sarah was just grateful for the reprieve and jumped at the opportunity to go upstairs where she would be comforted by her childhood surrounding her. When she made it to her room she quickly stripped out of the clothes that trapped the memories of the evening and changed into her most comfortable pair of pajamas. Determined to settle her overactive heart she sat down at her vanity to slowly brush her hair, looking into her reflection she thought back to where she had come from in these past three years since that evening. She knew that she had changed so much but it was only now that she was finally able to see how much that night had aged her.

While looking at her reflection she felt the familiar feeling of legs creeping up her spine. It almost felt to her as if someone else was watching her through her eyes in the mirror of the vanity. Startled she took the scarf that hung on the corner of the mirror and used it to cover the reflection. Crawling into bed Sarah clutched her hands to her chest and frantically tried to calm herself down. Humming the song that Jareth had sung to her Sarah found herself drifting into an uneasy sleep.

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Jareth sat in his throne, silent. The goblins were gathered around him trying to comfort him, they had never seen him in this state and it was very strange to them. Looking at his subjects he was grateful that they were concerned for him but the noise was forcing thoughts from his head and they were thoughts that he desperately needed to focus on. Looking around he noticed one of the goblins had just this vacant look in its eyes, it wasn't the look he normally expected from the goblins but one of sinister contemplation.

To say those words to her, broke his heart; but he knew in order for her to grow up and stop living in her fantasy world she had to hear them spoken out loud. He could not take the racket that the goblins were producing any longer and with a flourish he rose from his throne and made his way to his bed chambers. Even though he knew he was alone, because his were the only footsteps he could hear on the stone floors, Jareth couldn't help but feel as though he was being followed. Constantly he glanced behind him to see if there was anyone and the only thing he could see was the shadows claiming the hall with the sunset.

When he got to his chambers he paced the floor, the room was cold as death which prevented him from thinking fully. The darkness which had claimed the halls was closing in on the room and Jareth didn't want to light any of the candles. He needed fresh air and so he went over to the balcony to think. On his way out the french doors that separated him from the outside Jareth could swear that he heard a voice calling out his name. It wasn't the voice that caused him to stop in his tracks, but the memory of another time that this had happened to him. Looking around he tried to find the source of the voice, but all he could see was the shadows from the moonlight that was just starting to penetrate the room. He could not shake the feeling that he was being watched, looking into the darkest corner of the room he swore that he could see a pair of eyes staring blankly at him. Convincing himself that his eyes were just playing tricks on him

Jareth turned his back on the apparition.

Walking outside he was standing on his balcony over looking the city and he could tell that there was something growing on the horizon, a nameless terror, he could feel all the fear and anger of his kingdom, something terrible was going to happen.

When Jareth was in a mood his subjects knew when to leave him alone. It was in these moods that he sent the most to the bog and no one wanted to be subjected to that torture. With that mentality no one noticed when a small shadow began creeping through the castle in the direction of their masters chambers.

Jareth who was not paying attention to anything around him was oblivious to the fact that the eyes were not just his memory playing with him but it was in fact the goblin that had been staring at him from the throne room. The goblin started sneaking up on him and the voice inside its head was very strict to the fact that it was not to say a word to give away its position. Slowly the goblin lost control of itself as the voice took over everything about it. Throwing open its mouth a dark cloud poured from the goblin and started to assume a human form, it stayed in the shadows and didn't completely take shape.

Jareth was unaware of anything that was going on in the room. It wasn't until he heard the menacing voice behind him that he whirled around so fast that it almost gave him whiplash. "Hello Jareth," the voice behind him spoke, a chill crawled up his spine. Jareth felt frozen in place and voice spoke again, "You know I saw what you did to your little human pet. I believe she needs a shoulder to cry on, and I know just that man." The only color that came from the being was the white of his teeth as the moonlight glinted off of them. The voice was like ice and before Jareth could call for a guard he was hit with a white hot blast of raw power and knocked unconscious.

The shadow slowly solidified and the man that stepped forth had an air of menace and cruelty that seeped from every movement that he made. Slowly shadow creatures emerged from the darkness with him and they encircled him. "I will be ruler of this kingdom, that much is true." The creature grabbed Jareth and with a wave of his hands he was gone and the only thing that was left were his minions that slowly started to incorporate themselves into the community of the Labyrinth.

_**An: Hey guys so this chapter is a little raw and unedited but I wanted to post it anyway. I will post the edited finalized chapter as soon as my beta gets it back to me but I couldn't make you guys wait any longer. I hope you guys liked this chapter and Ill see you next chapter**_


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